By Ashley Silver
Police1
UVALDE, Texas — Over a month after the Uvalde school district suspended its entire police force, the school board has voted to hire Josh Gutierrez as the district’s interim police chief.
According to FOX News, interim school board superintendent Gary Patterson was impressed with Gutierrez’s experience as both a law enforcement officer and educator, having chaired a school safety committee and served as an emergency management coordinator in other school districts.
“My eyes are wide open to the scrutiny of our district police department and I’m fully aware, and our board is fully aware, of how careful we must be to make sure we’re taking the right steps,” Patterson said at a board meeting on Wednesday. “I would not recommend Josh for this job if I didn’t believe in Josh.”
In August, the Uvalde school board fired former district police chief Peter Arredondo after months of criticism of the law enforcement response he led during the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
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